Huntress Guide by Fifix
So, you want to lure your enemies into deadly traps while providing a sustained, ranged DPS? The Huntress is your best pick! This guide will cover both the solo and multiplayer aspects of a Huntress. Basics A good Huntress has to know what she can (or can't!) do. Traps The Huntress doesn't have any tower or blockade. Instead, she uses traps. Proximity Mine Trap (40MP, 3DU) : Crude, but deadly. 680 PHYSICAL base damage. Can also be used as a poor man's spike trap. Gas Trap (30MP, 2DU) : This trap will unleash a coughing gas as soon as a mob trigger it. The gas holds several seconds, so other mobs can be stopped too! It is poison-based, so beware of poison-resistant enemies as they will trigger it, but won't be stopped. Inferno Trap (60MP, 3DU) : This trap will literally unleash hell upon the poor guy that steps on it. The fire will hold several seconds, so try to pack the mobs before! It inflicts fire damage (of course...), so beware of fire-resistant enemies as they will trigger it, but won't take any damage. Darkness Trap (70MP, 5DU) : This trap will liberate fumes that blind the enemies, making them lose their target. Very useful for group situations, as this will allow your allies to freely repair or let their towers/blockades live (no target = no damage!) Ethereal Spike Trap (80MP, 4DU) : This trap will inflict massive damage upon a single enemy (Be careful! He won't tell the difference between a goblin and an ogre!). Best used on bosses and mini-bosses, when you have to make your last stand at the crystal(s). BE CAREFUL! If you "connect" several traps of the same type, you will trigger a chain reaction. By connect, I mean the effective range of the trap, not the activation range. Weapons A huntress can wield bows/crossbows and guns. Personal preference : Shotguns (and bone crossbows, if I'm right...), as they "pierce" through any non-large enemy to damage another one behind. Recommended stats Damage, of course. Elemental weapons can do wonders, but if you intend to do that, get electric weapons to avoid immunity problems (Fire is already taken by your fire trap, Poison is already taken by your gas trap...Sure, the spike trap does electric damage, but it's only used for bosses/mini-bosses, which doesn't have a resistance). Rate of fire. A good RoF will allow you to boost your DPS. Try to get 3-4 RoF if you can spend some mana to get your weapon to LvL 4+. 1 is a no-no, 2 is average. Character stats. Boosting your own stats, even on a weapon, is a good way to improve your character (especially if you get your hands on this delicious Character Damage stat) Other stats Clip size. Not very useful if you have more than ~20 ammo. Reload time. Can be useful, especially on low clip size weapons. If you have a negative reload time, it can severely hinder your DPS, so plan on returning to +0 as soon as possible. Projectile speed. Don't bother with that. If you get used to your weapon, you'll know WHEN your shots will land. The only drawback could be versus Dark Elf Warriors, as they're very mobile. Gear Don't bother with resistances. You're not a DPS Squire, you're not supposed to take damage. Instead, focus on character stats. Try to obtain a set bonus (+20% on all pieces when you have all pieces of the same type...Only leather, only mail, only chain, only plate, only pristine). Character stats As every hero, you have 8 stats and 2 abilities. Hero stats Hero Health increases your Max HP. Spend some points in there if you plan for Insane runs or when you encounter your first dark elf warriors (as they're quite hard to evade and DPS), during the Armory level. Hero Damage well...increases your weapon damage. A very good stat on multi play (When you can't build traps, you have to rely on your gun/crossbow, right?), and an useful one on solo play (killing ogres and bosses will be easier). Hero Speed increases your movement speed. The Huntress has a very good base movement speed, so don't bother with that stat when you play in a group. During solo play, it "can" be useful (better map control, as you can switch from one side to another quicker). You can get that stat with gear, though...It doesn't hurt! Hero Casting Rate enhances your capacity to repair, build and promote towers. Can be useful on multi play, as you'll take less time to repair that blockade before taking your weapon to kill everything. Hero Abilities Invisibility allows the Huntress to slip into the shadows. She can't be targeted (except by Dark Elf Warriors), but projectiles directed towards other players or defenses can hit her. It's a cool ability, as you can easily repair your traps behind the enemy lines, but I think you shouldn't bother spending points in that ability. If you want to do it anyway...Spending points in that ability reduces the upkeep cost of this ability. Piercing shot, on the other hand, is very useful, especially on Insane runs. Basically, it's a shot that can pierce EVERY enemy in a line, and they can do NOTHING about it (No reduction/immunity!). Base damage is based on your current weapon and each point spent further increases Piercing Shot's damage. It burns some mana though, so only use it if you NEED it (a line of monsters almost at the crystal, or monsters destroyed a defense, so you need to hold ground for your teammates while they rebuild it) Trap stats Trap Health increses the longevity of your traps by giving them more activations. Obligatory, even for a DPS build, even if you play in a group. When you think about it, a 10+ gas trap is awesome as you usually won't need to maintain it during a whole wave. Trap Damage isn't that useful. You already have a very good base damage on your traps (explosive and ethereal spike one-shot most of the enemies, and you can finish monsters that passed these traps), and Inferno traps are there to be upgraded if you need to use them. Trap Radius is useful to a certain point. Get about 20-25 points, to fully cover most chokes with a single trap. After, it's useless. Trap Cooldown is, in my opinion, useless. You won't need it because enemies usually come in waves, so your traps are reactivated at the right time. And if it isn't the case, just build another gas+fire+explosive combo behind, or let your teammates handling that for a few seconds! Solo Play The Huntress can solo on easy/medium difficulties most levels as soon as she unlocks them. Hard/Insane should only be tried after getting a nice gear and/or a sufficient level. Mechanisms You can't rely on ANY blockade. So, when you solo something, ALWAYS set gas traps on common choke points. This will prevent any non-poison-resistant enemy from rushing towards your crystal. You should (read HAVE TO) build a fire trap and an explosive trap behind these gas traps. On bosses/mini-bosses, set some explosive/spike traps and lure them into these traps (Shoot at them, "taunt" them by staying close to them). Don't set these traps near the crystal (ogres will rush towards the crystal and ignore you if they're too close), except if the boss is encountered near a crystal. Ideal spots Coming soon...? Build My favorite for this situation is the trap build. - Spend a lot of points in Trap health (less maintaining, less MP/repair, allowing you to upgrade/use skills with ease) until 35-40 points. - Spend some points on Trap Radius (20-25 should be fine)... - Then, either spend points in your Hero Damage (and a few in Hero Health, like 5-10), or go on with your traps. This build heavily rely on your capacity to evade enemy attacks, because you will be very squishy (almost no points in Hero Health until ~LvL15). Delay this build by spending some points in Hero Health if you feel you're too weak or if you try Insane runs. Multi Play If you have some friends, a Huntress can be a valuable member of the team! NOTE : Remember, you can set traps under towers/blockades! Build 3 builds can be used in multi play... DPS build This build relies on your capacity to do insane amounts of damage to give a quick burst when a side have some difficulties to deal with a wave. Also very useful versus bosses and mini-bosses. There's one drawback, as you'll have weak traps (but your mates have more DU to spend!). Just spend a lot of ponts in Hero Damage, with a bit of Hero Health and Hero Speed. Trap build This build is like the Solo Trap build : All in the trap health/radius/damage, a bit in Hero health. Very powerful with a Tower built Squire/Apprentice! But be careful on these big enemies, you don't have enough DPS to bring them down quickly. Hybrid build This build mixes both sides. It can be nice if you are in the later stages of the game (after LvL 25-30, when you're almost maxed in your DPS/trap build), but it will be useless during your early career. Combining your forces A good Huntress will not necessarly kill loads of enemies. Be useful to your team! Playing with a Huntress You can have 2 Huntresses in your group, provided one focuses on setting traps and the other repair/boost them. Don't take 2 Trap build. Trap + DPS or DPS + DPS (or Hybrid + DPS, if there's a tower Squire/Apprentice). Playing with a Squire If the pants-less, mighty Squire is in your group, plan accordingly. - Set fire traps if he deploys spike blockades. Explosive traps can also be used! - Set gas traps if he deploys slice n' dice blockades. Packing the enemies will greatly improve efficiency! Gas traps can also be used with ballistaes or bowling towers. If your Squire is going for a Hero Build, help him with a gas trap (Much easier to hit someone when he can't defend himself, right?) Don't bother with traps if he's setting bumpers... Playing with an Apprentice Blockades or not, if he's building towers, just build some gas traps. If this apprentice is going for a Hero build, help him with some gas traps too (Enemies aren't attacking? FREE AE DAMAGE!) Playing with a Monk The Monk's auras are awesome, but they have some common points with your traps. - If he ensnares a zone, don't bother with gas traps. - Anyway, build fire traps, if possible under his own auras for maximum damage (and he'll save some uses on his auras...) Category:Guides Category:Guide Category:Huntress